Home Office

Madeleine McCann

lord black of brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 26 June (HL16299) concerning Operation Grange, whether they will publish the details of the Metropolitan Police Service's request for further funding until the end of March 2020and place a copy in theLibrary of the House; and when a decision on that request is likely to be made.

baroness williams of trafford: Special grant decisions are published after the end of the financial year. All special grant decisions can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-funding-special-grant-applicationsThe Metropolitan Police Service’s application for Special Grant funding for Operation Grange in 2019/20 will therefore be published in 2020.



Special Grant Applications - 2017-18
(Excel SpreadSheet, 11.44 KB)

Immigrants: Domestic Abuse

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements they have in place to protect non-EU nationals resident in the UK who are victims of domestic abuse, and in particular to ensure access to homelessness support, refuge and benefits.

baroness williams of trafford: This Government is committed to tackling domestic abuse against all women, regardless of their background or nationality. On 16 July this Government introduced the Domestic Abuse Bill which aims to improve protection and support for all victims irrespective of their immigration status.Non-British victims residing in the UK are able to apply for support from authorities, many of whom will have statutory obligations to support victims. For individuals in the UK who are married, or partners of, British or settled sponsors and who claim to be victims of abuse, there is the option of applying for immediate crisis support under the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (DDVC).In addition, funding has been made available to support a range of support networks. In March £1,090,000 was made available specifically to be used to provide safe accommodation, and other support functions.We are not complacent about our responses to domestic abuse. We strive to see what more can be done and we have committed to reviewing the support available to migrant victims of domestic abuse. The review will be launched over the summer and we aim to report progress of the review during the passage of the Bill.

Immigration: EU Nationals

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the guidance issued by the Home Office to local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts on 2 AprilEU Settlement Scheme—Looked After Children and Care Leavers' is mandatory.

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation was undertaken in advance of publishing the guidance to local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts on 2 AprilEU Settlement Scheme—Looked After Children and Care Leavers; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that guidance on children accommodated under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 and their ability to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

baroness williams of trafford: The guidance pack issued to local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland and to Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland on 3 April is not statutory guidance. The pack puts together in one place, information readily available on gov.uk to provide a useful tool for front line local authority and HSCT staff tasked with supporting looked after children and care leavers. The Children Act 1989 provides the legal framework for local authorities to promote the child’s welfare and best interests, setting out statutory duties in relation to looked after children in England, with respective authorities for the devolved administrations. Statutory guidance is provided by Department for Education in relation to this. This statutory duty to promote best interests, coupled with funding provided to local authorities under a new burdens as-sessment should ensure that this important work will be done.The Home Office engaged with the Department for Education, the Association of Directors Childrens Services and other Local Authority stakeholders across the UK in advance of publishing the guidance. The Home Office also conducted a private trial phase of testing where five local authorities were asked for detailed information on the children in their care eligible to apply to the EUSS, including what ID evidence they had access to and family situations in order to ascertain difficulties in obtaining identity documents.The participating local authorities, along with the seven other community organisations participating in the trial phase provided detailed feedback on challenges they encountered during the test phase, which was considered before drafting the guidance.The Home Office is committed to continuing to engage with local authorities as they undertake their responsibilities to ensure that all eligible looked after children and care leavers are supported to make an application to the EUSS. The Home Office will ensure that caseworkers liaise with and support applicants to get the status they require.We consulted with the Department for Education in advance of publishing the guidance to ensure adequate consideration was given to other categories of looked after children, where the local authority does not hold full PR, under section 20 of the Children Act 1989. It has been confirmed that in those cases there is a duty on the local authority to raise awareness of the EU Set-tlement Scheme to those with PR for those eligible child(ren) and to provide practical support where needed, or signpost to relevant community support where deemed more appropriate to do so.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Tourism: Expenditure

baroness doocey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount spent on tourism by localauthoritiesin each region of England in 2016–17; and whether they will provide a breakdown of any such estimate by local authority area.

viscount younger of leckie: Providing the complete information requested would exceed the word limit for written parliamentary questions. The information has been provided as attachments.Local authority revenue expenditure on tourism for 2016-17 was reported in Revenue Outturn 5 (RO5), 2016-17. See 'RO5' data table here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2016-to-2017-individual-local-authority-data-outturn   Local authority capital expenditure on tourism for 2016-17 was reported in Capital Outturn Return 1 (COR1), 2016-17. See 'COR1' data table here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-capital-expenditure-and-financing-in-england-2016-to-2017-individual-local-authority-data



Capital outturn return (COR1) 2016 to 2017 
(Excel SpreadSheet, 1.35 MB)




Revenue outturn (RO5) 2016 to 2017
(Excel SpreadSheet, 1.01 MB)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Squirrels

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the size of the red squirrel population in England.

lord gardiner of kimble: There is insufficient data to give an accurate figure however the recent Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals (2018), a report by The Mammal Society under contract to Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage, estimated the red squirrel population in England to be in the region of 39,000.

Wild Boar

lord trees: To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to monitor the numbers and distribution of feral boar in the UK; and what steps are being taken to control their numbers.

lord gardiner of kimble: Wildlife management in the UK is a devolved issue.In England, the majority of feral wild boar are thought to reside within the Forest of Dean. This public forest estate is managed by the Forestry Commission which undertakes an annual population survey of the feral wild boar in the Forest of Dean public estate, the results of which are on their website.Forestry England rangers cull feral wild boar in the Forest of Dean public estate to stop the growth of the population.On other land, feral wild boar population management is the responsibility of the landowner. The Government can support landowners by providing advice.